Niners defensive end Nick Bosa is seen during training camp at the Levi’s Stadium last month.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
San Francisco 49ers All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa missed his third straight practice Saturday due to “soreness” after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in September.
Bosa, 28, was sidelined after he was eased back into action during the first six practices of training camp. He participated in individual drills, but he wasn’t part of team drills.
“He was doing great and then he got sore just going through some of the individuals,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I mean, you wish that didn’t happen. But there’s no concern to where something’s happened that is a big setback or anything. But we’re waiting until that soreness goes away, and evaluating why the soreness has happened. But I still feel pretty good about that.”
Bosa has suffered three torn ACLs dating to his senior year of high school, including two in his right knee. Before Bosa was sidelined, he occasionally did half-speed one-on-one work with All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams during practice.
“Bosa looks better than he did before he got hurt,” Williams said on July 26 after the first practice of camp.
Huge loss: Shanahan termed the loss of wide receiver Ricky Pearsall to season-ending knee surgery a “huge deal.”
“You hope a lot of people step up, but no one here is wired exactly how Ricky is,” Shanahan said. “They‘‘re all a little bit different. So you do lose a big part of what we were planning on.”
The 49ers were hoping Pearsall, a 2024 first-round pick, would break out after he was limited to nine games in 2005 due to a PCL injury suffered in Week 4. However, the injury never fully healed. The decision was made for Pearsall to have surgery after he experienced knee swelling after the first two practices of camp last month.
Without Pearsall, the 49ers wide receiver corps is headlined by Mike Evans, rookie second-round pick De’Zhaun Stribling and Deebo Samuel, who was signed last month after Pearsall was lost for the season.
Losing “Ricky was a real big deal,” Shanahan said. “We’ve had a number of injuries in camp, but that’s really the only one that’s actually been not just a (minor) camp injury.”
Who will block Aaron Donald? A clear answer at left guard has not emerged after nine practices. Connor Colby opened camp as the starter — and “incumbent” according to offensive line coach Chris Foerster — but has since been relegated to the second unit the past three practices. In place of Colby, veteran Robert Jones has played with the first unit.
Foerster said earlier in the week that bad habits from last year have crept up on Colby, who made six starts at left guard as a seventh-round draft pick in 2025. Jones, 27, started a full season for the Dolphins at left guard in 2024 before a neck injury sideline him for all of 2025.
Neither have appeared to make a strong impression.
Colby lost most of his reps during a 1-on-1 pass protection drill on Saturday, including two against undrafted rookie James Thompson Jr. Pass protection has been a work-in-progress for Colby since he arrived from a run-heavy scheme at Iowa. Jones, similarly, ranked 62nd out of 77 eligible guards in Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade (56.3) during his lone season as a full-time starter.
Austen Pleasants, who served as the backup swing tackle last season, mixed in at left guard for the first time this camp. Colby occasionally repped with the third unit as a result. The team’s guard depth in general has been impacted by the absences of 2026 fourth-round pick Carver Willis (concussion) and Brett Toth (concussion), who can play center or guard.
The 49ers open the season on Sept. 10 in Australia against the Rams, who recently worked out former All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who is mulling a return to the team after two years in retirement. Donald won AP Defensive Player of the Year three times and recorded 111 sacks in 10 seasons, leading the entire league in the category with a 20.5-sack season in 2018.
Catching punts: When general manager John Lynch explained the Samuel signing, little more than a year removed from trading him away, Lynch made clear that Samuel was “fully committed” to being a kickoff returner. It made sense. Samuel returned 32 kickoffs for 985 yards yards and 30.8 yards per return across his past two seasons.
Saturday teased a new possibility: Deebo the punt returner.
He was among several players who caught punts during the session. His last punt return came during his sophomore year at South Carolina, where he returned only two punts in his college career. Samuel has not returned a punt in his seven NFL seasons.
Charisse Delgado receives a flu shot from LVN Sheila Aldana at a Kaiser Permanente clinic in Santa Clara on Oct. 3, 2019. The FDA has now approved the first mRNA flu vaccine, giving adults 50 and older a new option for the 2026-27 flu season.
Charisse Delgado receives a flu shot from LVN Sheila Aldana at a Kaiser Permanente clinic in Santa Clara on Oct. 3, 2019. The FDA has now approved the first mRNA flu vaccine, giving adults 50 and older a new option for the 2026-27 flu season.